Trump ran on a platform of cutting government waste and, at the same time, increasing military spending. Here's how he could get $125B over the next five years, per a report that the Defense Business Board produced in 2015, and the Pentagon quashed so as not to admit that they were wasting so much money.
'That would be enough to fully fund operations for 50 Army brigades, 10 Navy carrier strike group deployments, or 83 wings of F-35 fighter aircraft (one wing being about 36 aircraft—purchase price not included) for each of those five years.'
Some of the savings were estimated from modest productivity increases in the biggest groups — "human resources management, health management, financial management, logistics, acquisition and procurement programs, and managing the Defense Department's vast real estate holdings" — as well as contract renegotiations and pushing for early retirement.
Getting the DoD's IT services under control contributes a significant share, too.
The Pentagon justified shelving the report (once it became public) by noting that … well, these things aren't simple to do, and savings that might impact jobs in individual Congresscritters' districts are politically untenable. They say that some of the easy things are now in their plans (maybe) and will save money (if enforced) in the future.
All of which sound like excuses before there's an attempt to try things, and accountability when they do, in fact, turn out to be too difficult to do.
I should think that a businessman like our President-Elect, with an eye on the bottom line, should be able to get the Defense Department under control and save some serious wastage (or get clear reasons as to why not) before he starts talking about throwing more money at them. That's the kind of government efficiency that we expect from a man of Mr Trump's acumen, right?
DOD covered up report that said it could save $125 billion in overhead
Brass were afraid findings were “unrealistic”—and would lead to bigger budget cuts.
Silly +Dave Hill , the entire purpose of the DoD is to transfer tax monies to companies that are located in every congresscritter's district.